Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts speaks to fans and media at the groundbreaking of the 1060 Project on Oct. 11.

The owners of the Chicago Cubs are close to selling a 20 percent stake in the team said to be valued at around $300 million, a Cubs spokesman said.

Citing an anonymous source, the Sports Business Journal reported that the franchise is worth $2 billion — more than double what the Ricketts family paid in 2009 — and that the sale of part of the team is "expected to finish soon."

Ricketts family spokesman Dennis Culloton said nothing "officially" has changed since April, when reports surfaced that Cubs ownership was considering selling a noncontrolling share of the franchise to one or more minority investors to help finance the team's $575 million Wrigley Field renovation and redevelopment plan.

Mr. Culloton did not dispute any element of the SBJ report, which said that New York-based Galatioto Sports Partners is "managing" the minority share sale. The financial advisory company has been a Ricketts family consultant in the past, including for the original $845 million purchase of the team.

The rapid increase in the Cubs' franchise value is based mainly on the recent explosion of broadcasting rights fees in sports, specifically Major League Baseball, says sports finance consultant Marc Ganis, president of Chicago-based SportsCorp. Ltd.

The Cubs stand to enjoy a major payday in 2020, when the team is free to renegotiate the fees it gets for TV rights or potentially launch its own network. Either could further boost the team's revenue, barring regulatory changes related to bundling channels on cable and satellite.

"Sports teams sell not for their current value but their future value, and the certainty of the upside of future value," said Mr. Ganis. "There's a certainty of upside here, and a meaningful one."

NOT-SO-COMMON FUNDING SOURCE

Selling minority shares in a franchise is not typically how teams have funded stadium renovations and new construction over the past two decades. Most have been supported by public financing.

But new investors might ease the weight of the significant debt the Ricketts family took on in its highly leveraged purchase of the franchise.

And members of the local business elite could be interested in purchasing part of the team, based on their previous efforts to buy the club from Tribune Co.

Mr. Ricketts told the gathering he hopes to keep the Cubs in his family.

"A sports franchise is really set up as a great vehicle for a family business that you keep through generations and make it a focal point for your entire family for decades," he said.

Editor's note: The story originally said the Ricketts family valued the stake being sold at $400 million. It has been corrected to more accurately reflect the dollar value of the stake, which is around $300 million.